The present invention relates to a computerized method for simulating the dispersion of fillers in a high polymer material, more particularly to a fast procedure for rendering a filler dispersion state.
High polymer materials such as compounded rubber used in vehicle tires usually contain fillers such as carbon black and silica. It is well known in the art that the dispersion of fillers in a compounded rubber exerts a strong influence on properties, e.g. strength of the rubber.
In recent years, in order to evaluate the dispersion of fillers in a high polymer material, various computerized simulation (numerical calculation) methods have been proposed.
In this kind of simulation method, filler models of fillers and polymer models of a high polymer material are defined, and a molecular dynamics (MD) calculation is performed on the filler models and polymer models placed or set in a predetermined virtual space. Then, from the results of the simulation, the filler models and polymer models are rendered in order to evaluate the dispersion of the fillers with the naked eye.
Therefore, this method has the following problems. First of all, the rendering of the filler models and polymer models requires a very long time.
Further, even when the rendered three-dimensional image of the filler models and polymer models is viewed from any direction, the filler models and polymer models are seen as being overlapped with each other. Therefore, it is difficult to exactly know how the filler models are dispersed.